I live in Canada 2,445 kilometres from Houston, Texas, yet gas prices here have jumped 19 cents a litre (so far). I know this gas didn’t come from Texas, but apparently Hurricane Harvey’s flooding has now reached us too.
What bothers me though, more than these price increases, is the “fake news” the oil/gas industry puts out to justify what they have implemented.
But even more irritating is that we the general public (including the different levels of government and the media — whose job is to “dig for the truth”), just accept the “supply-and-demand” defence without any real challenges.
The hurricane didn’t shut down 80 per cent of the refineries in the United States, and of course, none in Canada. Yet these same facilities, whose costs have not risen, are now selling their product at inflated prices.
They’ll argue the “complexities of the situation, but in the end really, it just comes down to a simple case of price gouging and a business opportunity to go after even more money.
Sadly, it also shows the willingness of an industry to seek out profits at the expense of others’ tragedies.
The real crime though, might be that no one appears to be standing up and holding them accountable, by asking any of the right questions.
Rant over.

What bothers me though, more than these price increases, is the “fake news” the oil/gas industry puts out to justify what they have implemented.
But even more irritating is that we the general public (including the different levels of government and the media — whose job is to “dig for the truth”), just accept the “supply-and-demand” defence without any real challenges.
The hurricane didn’t shut down 80 per cent of the refineries in the United States, and of course, none in Canada. Yet these same facilities, whose costs have not risen, are now selling their product at inflated prices.
They’ll argue the “complexities of the situation, but in the end really, it just comes down to a simple case of price gouging and a business opportunity to go after even more money.
Sadly, it also shows the willingness of an industry to seek out profits at the expense of others’ tragedies.
The real crime though, might be that no one appears to be standing up and holding them accountable, by asking any of the right questions.
Rant over.
